State budget holds promise for shelter

The Haven, an abuse shelter serving Terrebonne and Lafourche women and children, may get some budget relief from the state after cutting its staff and services earlier this year.

Mary KilpatrickStaff Writer

The Haven, a shelter serving abused Terrebonne and Lafourche women and children, may get some relief from state budget cuts that impacted staff and services.The state's budget bill, House Bill 1 that awaits Gov. Bobby Jindal's signature, has a provision to raise the Family Violence Prevention and Intervention Program's budget to $7.3 million, up from last year's $6.29 million, said Lindsey de Blieux, Department of Children & Family Services spokeswoman. The increase not only ends the cutbacks but also means shelters will get more aid through state contracts, de Blieux said.“This was not a sustained cut,” de Blieux said.The funding has not been this high since the 2008-09 fiscal year, she said. The shelters are expected to soon get their grant award letters.Midway through the current fiscal year in January, DCFS announced a $2.2 million reduction of the allocated 2012-13 state aid.About $998,413 of that money was sliced out of the Family Violence Prevention and Intervention Program's budget that helps run centers like The Haven. The cuts hit the shelter hard: $50,000 of its money evaporated — about 30 percent of what it gets from state contracts and 10 percent of its yearly budget, Executive Director Julie Pellegrin said. “We've had to let go of two full-time employees and one part-time employee,” she said. “We used to have counseling services in the evening and daytime but have had to reduce hours.”The Haven has seven bedrooms and can accommodate about 23 or 24 women and children on a given day, the shelter's Operation Director Daphne Young said. About 92 percent of the time, it is at full capacity.The staff is down to 11, and fewer people are doing the same amount of work to help women and children in crisis. The shelter, which has one of the highest quality assurance ratings in the state, slashed the number of outreach educational and preventative programs out of necessity.But that's not what bothers Pellegrin the most about the budget reductions, she said.“It's seeing so many people in need and not being able to address that need. ... We absolutely cannot provide the same services that we provided six months ago,” she said.Though state mid-year budget cuts are common, allotments for domestic violence are not generally disturbed, said Beth Meeks, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.“This money provides services for shelters, hotlines and counseling across the state,” she said.The increase will ease strain on the state's 18 shelters, which work together in an unofficial network against domestic abuse. The shelters often rely on each other, routinely opening up beds and services to each other's clients when space is limited or when a woman feels unsafe to stay in a particular area.“Calls come from anywhere in the state and sometimes come from neighboring states,” Pellegrin said.Many regions of the state do not have a nearby domestic abuse shelter, she said.“We would never turn anyone down,” Pellegrin said. “We work out a plan.”Though some bigger shelters said they felt the state cuts, others were less shaken by them. Darlene Santana, executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Women in New Orleans, said her shelter lost around $60,000, or around 10 percent of its budget, when DCFS made its cutbacks this year. But her shelter has not had to cut services or beds as a result.